Recommended Component 2024 – Stereophile
"Truly Affordable, High-Quality" Interconnect with PSC Conductors
For superb sound at an affordable price, AudioQuest Golden Gate analog audio interconnect has solid Perfect Surface Copper (PSC) conductors and uses asymmetrical double-balanced geometry, delivering lower impedance to the ground.
Golden Gate also features foamed-polyethylene insulation, cold-welded, gold-plated plugs, and a Metal-Layer Noise Dissipation System for powerful sound.
This version of Golden Gate interconnect features male RCA plugs on both ends.
"Recommended Component" Honors
Stereophile honored Golden Gate by awarding it the magazine's coveted Recommend Component status for 2024.
According to Stereophile, "[These cables] are insulated with foamed polyethylene, and are attractive, well made, and very flexible. Moving up the line, SM heard improvements in image focus, tone color, drama, and overall clarity and extension. 'If you're in the market for truly affordable, truly high-quality interconnects, I can think of no better place to start than AudioQuest,' he concluded."
"SM used it between his laptop and PSB Alpha PS1 desktop speakers. Compared with the stock PS1 cable, the AQ produced a larger, more present overall sound, with deeper silences, longer decays, cleaner highs, more realistic bass, and richer tone color. 'Suddenly, I had real high-fidelity sound coming from my laptop,' SM enthused."
"Golden Gate is the Sweet Spot"
"To me, the Golden Gate is the sweet spot between the performance you get for the money you pay, especially if you are buying a cable for a similar stack as me. This stack costs $550 USD and this $95 USD cable upgrade makes perfect sense to me if it adds to the overall sound quality," observes Yagiz, headfonia.com, May 6, 2023, in his review of Tower and Golden Gate interconnects.
"Firstly, compared to Tower, the Golden Gate sounds more refined. The stack sounds more effortless compared to the generics and there is a good margin of difference when it comes to transparency and detail retrieval."
Perfect Surface Copper Conductors
Conductor material quality makes a world of difference in the sound of an audio cable. Since the surface of a conductor has 100% current density at all frequencies, the surface most defines the sound quality of the whole conductor. Ultra-smooth Perfect Surface Copper minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries that exist with any metal conductor.
Solid Core Conductors
Strand interaction is the single greatest cause of distortion in cable, and one of the easiest to avoid. Whenever current crosses the oxidized contact between bare strands, the signal will be altered. In addition, the magnetic fields of the various strands are constantly interacting, causing confusion (smearing) and causing the contact pressure between strands to be constantly modulated. AudioQuest's solid core conductors are the complete solution to this problem.
"The Difference is Easily Discernible"
"The dynamism and the layering are improved over the Tower and in this regard, I just don’t ever want to use generic cables with this stack," concludes Yagiz at headfonia.com.
"The vocals are more accentuated, the hi-hats feel sharper and more dynamic. Mids feel more coherent. I like the characteristics of the AQ’s PSC, no matter the price range, the difference is easily discernible vs. generic cables. If you are looking for a start, I recommend taking the Tower for a spin. If you have a more expensive setup, discover a ratio that works for you. I usually spend 10-15% of the total price of my setup on cables and I’m happy with this ratio."
AudioQuest Noise-Dissipation System
Noise, in the form of RF energy, is the mortal enemy of good sound. Our environment is more contaminated with RF than ever before due to the huge proliferation of RF radiating devices like computers and mobile phones.
Traditionally, RF energy is routed to ground through the use of a 'shield" consisting of either a braided metal or foil. This 'draining' of RF to ground causes a modulation of the ground plane, which in turn causes a form of signal modulation.
AudioQuest's Noise-Dissipation System greatly reduces the effect of this modulation. Metal, used in a passive manner, acts as a method of dissipating and reducing the incoming RF. The result is dramatically less modulation of the signal, less distortion and better sound.
Cold-Weld System
Making the perfect connection between conductor and connector is not a simple process. There are three accepted ways to make the connection between a cable and its termination. Solder is by far the most common method of connection. Resistance welding is clearly superior to even the best solder. However, just as solder introduces an inferior layer of differing material, causing distortion and reflections, so does welding. The alloy created at the interface of cable and plug is far superior to solder, but it is still an undesirable intermediary layer. After so much attention to the quality of the conductor and connector, the contact system deserves just as much consideration.
AudioQuest's Cold-Weld System solves this problem with a superior connection that insures that the structural integrity of the conductor is kept completely intact. The Cold-Weld System refers to a combination of high pressure at the point of contact and the use of silver impregnated paste.
Foamed Polyethylene Insulation
Golden Gate's polyethylene insulation, foamed to include as much 'air' as possible, provides superior clarity and dynamics.
"They Work for Me Sonically, Haptically, and Optically"
"Comparing the two AudioQuest cables [Evergreen and Golden Gate] with a generic one revealed a more obvious sonic difference (to my ears): music through the generic one lacked presence, dynamics and clarity in comparison, though it was still not outright bad. Some may find this difference subtle, others substantial," observes Jürgen Krause, audioreviews.org, December 22, 2022.
"I belong more to the 'substantial' fraction as this difference is cumulative: it is there all the time, whenever music is running…. These cables fit my electronics, budget wise, and they work for me sonically, haptically, and optically."
